Posted on 11/29/2011 7:32:32 PM PST by Hojczyk
Just imagine what they’ll learn in 50 years about FDR.
There are still pallet loads of secret files from his Presidency.
Naval Intelligence was fairly certain that Pearl Harbor had been hit by two or three carriers, not the six that made the actual attack. It was believed that Zuikaku and Shokako were not yet in service (Japan had rushed them through their trials so they could participate in the attack), another was receiving an extensive overhaul, and a fourth might have been in the attack force or it might have been supporting operations down near the Philippines.
Our intelligence was good, but it wasn't infallible. Even MAGIC couldn't read everything the Japanese were sending over the air waves.
Oh, dear!
I love to talk about this stuff and never considered it a contest.
The story of the Lanikai is interesting as well as those of the two smaller ships that accompanied her on that mission.
FDR’s imposing a trade embargo on Japan in conjunction with Britain and the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia) cut off Japan from oil and other raw materials needed to wage its war in China.
It was as provocative as having the US Navy escort convoys to Britain halfway across the Atlantic during the summer of 1941. Hitler could afford to hold the big trigger although a few US ships were attacked.
The Japanese had to attack southward to get the raw materials and Roosevelt knew on December 7th that was about to happen.
He didn’t realize they would hit the US Pacific Fleet at the same time so the US would be hampered in its ability to support the British and Dutch in the Far East.
One facet here to recall is that this planned foray was done under the explicit order of FDR. Hart was not a happy camper.
Overall, it is important to remember: (a) The example of the "shot heard 'round the world" on Lexington Green, i.e., who fired that first shot? Stimson's diary entry here reveals FDR's War Cabinet thinking at the time, (b) Stark, testifying before the Congress on the on-going dust-up in the Atlantic, admitted that the US Navy was indeed the aggressor against the German (and even Italian) subs, i.e., the US was firing the first shot - an obvious "act of war" initialled by the US. [Here, also, it might be helpful to read Germany's declaration of war against the US, citing specifically the Reuben James, the lack of US neutrality, ..., delivered in Berlin on 11Dec 1941.]<
This violated FDR's pledge, he needed the " ... unless attacked." clause.
So, posit, how to, in an absolutely unambigous way, have the US be attacked?
Just one, of many, other factoids - yup, Pearl Harbor, the Canal Zone, Manila, Singapore, ..., etc., were all surveiled by the Japanese. Just one installation, however, was divided into a grid - what became known as the "Bomb Plot." This was detailed in the Fall of 1941, but somehow was never even brought to the attention of the Hawaiian commanders.
Also, just briefly, the capture of the "Blue Funnel" streamer headed for the Far East Command in Singapore, in 1940 by the Germans was carrying the CoS (Chief of Staff) minutes on the British Empire's military condition. The Germans had this translated into Japanese and gave it to them. From this document the Japanese learned just how stretched the Royal Navy was, and that support in the Far East was not certain.
That meant for the Japanese just one possible threat, that located at an obvious place.
What was won?
Thank you.
Tankan Bay (or Hitokappu Wan) located at approximately 147E, 45N on today's Iturup Island in the Kuriles was not considered an IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy) "home port".
Beside Hector Bywater, consider Homer Lea’s “Valor of Ignorance” from 1909 (great invasion maps).
He didn’t have the time because he squandered it. General Chesty Puller warned of an attack on Hawaii and the woeful state of readiness - in 1934! General George Patton, Puller’s first cousin, also warned that Pearl Harbor was vulnerable to attack.
FDR moved the Pacific Fleet to Hawaii over the objections of his admirals, concentrating the ships at poorly-defended Pearl Harbor. Like his fellow socialist, Wilson, FDR had run on non-involvement in Europe’s war. Like Wilson, we were in a war within a year.
All this because, despite nine years of then-unprecedented spending and government meddling in the private sector, there were still more people without jobs than in 1932!
Started my day off with a laugh there!
I'll see your "Sunk" and raise you a "Kaigun." (By David C. Evans and Mark Peattie)
Peattie has also written "Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power" -- both books are highly recommended, but you might want to obtain them through your library system, they're long and they're not cheap!
(Thanks for the tip, will get "Sunk" today!)
Well, Hitler certainly simplified things by declaring war on the US a few days after Pearl Harbor. I understand that under Nazi Germany’s treaty with Imperial Japan he was not obligated to do so.
What would have been ‘interesting’ would have been how FDR would have handled the situation had Hitler done NOTHING.
I think that the US Navy demonstrated during numerous Fleet Exercises during the interwar years exactly what they had in mind as far as independent carrier operations were concerned. The older battleships (the ones sunk at Pearl) were basically too slow to operate with the carrier/cruiser battlegroups in any case. It wasn't until the first fast battleships appeared that you got battleships operating with carriers.
It’s not certain that we had cracked the Japanese naval code prior to Pearl Harbor. The only thing that has been established is that the Office of Naval Intelligence had stolen the Japanese diplomatic code. IOW’s we were reading their embassy’s mail.
There was a lot of radio direction finding work being done in an attempt to track Japanese fleet units via triangulation, but the Pearl Harbor strike force maintained radio silence and stayed out of regular sea lanes.
But FDR tells the Congressional leadership which came to the White House the night after the Pearl Harbor attack, that (to paraphrase) " ... we have it on good authority that Germany will declare war on us."
Not only FDR, but WSC also knows this - the British having three PURPLE analogues by that time in 1941. Odd, that the Asiatic Fleet had a PURPLE but the Pacific Fleet did not.
That "authority" was a PURPLE message from late November 1941, Berlin to Tokyo, reporting on a meeting with von Ribbentrop.
That's why the carriers were NOT at Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack. FDR figured we could afford to lose obsolete battleships if it got us in the war.
Very odd that specific RDF logs are missing, tampered with, of just "gone walk-about."
Very odd that Call Sign Lists No. 9 and No. 10 also await full release, and have been under FOIA requests for years.
Very odd!
So it was a Gulf of Tonkin contrivence. I’d never heard of it before. Thanks for the info. You’re awesome.
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